lots of weight= wake = stress on engine?

ok so i am on this forum basically all the time, and i see some impressive wakes, and even more impressive stories of guys puting several thousand pounds on top of the stock ballast system, so i say is it possible to blow the engine this way? it cant be good, what do you think is the max weight you can put in the boat without the engine being effected?

the only time it cannot be good is if you are wakeboarding and getting out of the hole, you might rev up to 3200rpm's(still less than skiing) but when your surfing, i don't hardly ever go above 2000 rpm's, no chance of blowing the engine here, and you use less gas!

I think that the Transmission is going to take more of a beating that the engine. Especially if you do a lot of backing up to P/U your fallen surfer.

im interested in this topic too... my dad doesnt really like wakesurfing b/c of this reason...any advice to prove him wrong and let me surf more often would be greatly apreciated...haha.

Surfing's fine on the engine... these are truck engines after all, designed for low-end torque. If he's concerned about this, remind him that he tows a 3200lb boat behind his 4000lb truck with zero "give" (think about the way a prop "slips" in the water) using [virtually] the same motor as is in the boat. There is a way to calculate resistances for sure... I'd look up some equations for wind resistance, inertia, water resistance in relation to prop pitch and displacement and prove to your dad mathematically that it's not as hard on the engine as he thinks!

The main issue with wakesurfing and boats is the transmission: just make sure it's fluid levels are good, have it looked at occasionally, and it should never be an issue.

wakesurfing is a lot less rpms on the motor and tranny compared to wakeboarding (BIG TIME !!!!)

i run in the rpm mode @ 2675 rpm and i am up to speed (11.5 mph) in about 3-5 seconds.... pretty darn quick...

wake boarding with a loaded boat takes a good 20 seconds depending on the load..

i use less gas and lower rpms when surfing compared to wakeboarding

(Message edited by clubmyke on June 18, 2007)

Josh,
You could tell your dad to get the MB's 2-speed transmission to solve the problem!

i dont know about less gas surfing, remember how much more resistance is on a boat while surfing compared to wakeboarding, even with the same weight. the hulls are designed to have less resistance once planed out, and therefore running at 26 mph planed out is probably harder than running 10 mph half sunk. it is a lot harder for the engine to lift 2000 lbs of weight plus boat weight out of the water than just running constantly at 20+ mph with that same weight. i think it would be safe to assume that wakeboarding and surfing both put approximately equal strain on the boat and use somewhat equal gas and these boats are made for it anyways. but if i had to take an engineering educated guess and from personal experience, i honestly think surfing uses more gas (with a really loaded boat - none or little ballast while surfing would use less gas). but shh i wont tell ur dad josh.

oh and matt to answer your question, i think you could put so much weight in your boat that the thing is 1/4" from sinking, and the engine would still be fine. engines like to run at high rpm's anyways, they perform best from about 60% to 85% of rpm limit. just make sure you change the oil and all other fluids as recommended, maybe even more often if you surf a lot.